


Actually [事实是]

by sparksfly7



Category: Chinese Actor RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 22:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7482780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparksfly7/pseuds/sparksfly7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jiang Xin pokes Liu Tao in the shoulder. “So, you admit that I’m the top, right?”</p><p>Liu Tao gives her an exasperated look. “It’s my birthday and this is what you want to talk about?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Actually [事实是]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonrise31](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonrise31/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, Carolion! Oops I mean ~~Christine~~ Caroline*. Even if it technically isn't your birthday where you are yet... I hope you're done your homework by now! Wishing you the best in this new adventure in your life :))
> 
> Jiang Xin will never let the I'm the top/I'm her man argument go.
> 
> [Exhibit 1](http://i.imgur.com/bubChlF.jpg). [Exhibit 2](http://i.imgur.com/fBDvUH1.jpg). [Exhibit 3](http://weibo.com/1665256992/DD5sdyAjz). [Exhibit 4](http://weibo.com/1665256992/DEpiVc5yr).
> 
> But okay come on, if 总攻 (ultimate top - LT's nickname) has to 让着她 (let her win)... I think we can all tell who's the top here lol.
> 
> Warning for random sprinkles of Chinese throughout. I explain the terms in the ending notes.

Jiang Xin pokes Liu Tao in the shoulder. “So, you admit that I’m the top, right?”

Liu Tao gives her an exasperated look. “It’s my birthday and this is what you want to talk about?”

“Yes.” Jiang Xin pokes her again, and Liu Tao grabs her hand as if to pull her away, but then laces their fingers together. “Why, what did you want to talk about?”

Because of their height difference, Liu Tao has to tip her head up to whisper into Jiang Xin’s ear. Jiang Xin likes that maybe a little too much, likes to look at the curve of Liu Tao’s jaw when she does that, the jut of her cheekbones. Her superior height is always something that she likes to flaunt to Liu Tao when they have one of their “who’s the top” debates. Okay, so maybe Jiang Xin is the only one who debates it while Liu Tao just gives her this affectionately exasperated look and says “Okay, Xin-er,” but whatever, she’s totally the top, okay?!

Liu Tao’s words reach her ears and, like a chemical reaction, make heat flush across her cheeks. She probably looks like a tomato right now, one of the let-downs of being so pale. When Liu Tao blushes, it’s not nearly as noticeable. Not that Liu Tao blushes as much as her anyway, but that totally doesn’t detract from Jiang Xin’s top-ness. Totally.

“What?” she squeaks – um, calmly inquires.

Liu Tao gives her a look that only makes the fire flare up hotter. “You heard me.”

“But—”

“Yes?” Liu Tao asks patiently.

“But I can be on top, right?”

Liu Tao laughs. “You can be on top, _baobei_.”

Jiang Xin beams, and Liu Tao gives her a warm look that the cameras never get to pick up, that the TaoXin fans never get to see. They both like to play it up in front of the fans, but this, this is only for them.

“However,” Liu Tao says. “It is my birthday…”

Jiang Xin eyes her nervously, biting her lip at the glint in Liu Tao’s eyes. “Yeah,” she says slowly. “And?”

Liu Tao’s smile makes Jiang Xin’s stomach do a cartwheel and her heart go through intense gymnastics maneuvers that she can’t even name. “Don’t I get a special present?”

“Like the bouquet you gave me?” Jiang Xin asks, and instead of an answer Liu Tao takes her by the wrist and pulls her toward the bedroom.

“Hey,” Jiang Xin says once they’re on the bed. True to her word, Liu Tao lets her be on top – correction, has no choice but to be beneath her.

Liu Tao brushes a strand of hair away from her face. “Yeah, _baobei_?”

She would never admit how much she likes the nickname, but Liu Tao always insists on calling her it, so she thinks that Liu Tao must know. Maybe her face gives it away; for an actress, she isn’t very good at hiding how she feels. She’s quite terrible at it, really, but Liu Tao says that she likes it. Says that she likes how candid Jiang Xin is, how she never fronts or pretends. Says that it’s enough they act for a career, that they don’t need to, shouldn’t, act in their daily lives too.

Jiang Xin smiles. “Happy Birthday.”

Liu Tao smiles back and traces Jiang Xin’s dimple with a fingertip. Sometimes she likes to just keep her thumb pressed against it, like she wanted to stamp something into Jiang Xin’s skin. Jiang Xin had asked her if she does the same thing to Yang Shuo, and Liu Tao had given her such an incredulous look that Jiang Xin felt ridiculous and buried her face against Liu Tao’s shoulder. It’s not her fault for being cautious when Liu Tao is out there flirting with everyone left and right, making men and women alike swoon.

Gentle fingers brush against her forehead, and then her eyebrows. “You’re frowning,” Liu Tao notes. “What are you thinking about?”

 _“How I don’t like it when you flirt with other people,”_ Jiang Xin almost blurts out, but she has enough EQ to know not to do that. “You,” she says instead. It’s not lying, she reminds herself. Not acting. “I like you.”

Liu Tao looks at her with eyes full of warmth, an expression that’s still hard for Jiang Xin to meet head-on, even though she’s seen it so many times. “I like you too.”

Jiang Xin grins. “I’m your boyfriend, right?”

Liu Tao laughs. “Right, _laoye_.”

See? Totally the top.

**Author's Note:**

> Index:  
> Xin-er 欣儿 = a diminutive for 欣, Jiang Xin's name. Adding a 儿 (er) to a name in Chinese is a common way of forming a nickname, like adding a -y or -ie to an English name, e.g. Sam --> Sammy.  
> TaoXin 掏心 = their ship name, a play on their names 涛欣. Means "from the bottom of my heart."  
> Baobei 宝贝 = baby. Liu Tao did call Jiang Xin that in the [birthday card she wrote her](http://ww2.sinaimg.cn/mw690/6341ce20jw1f3o628k4loj23402c01ky.jpg). She also got Jiang Xin [this huge bouquet](http://ww2.sinaimg.cn/mw690/6341ce20jw1f3o6071mnjj229831ge82.jpg).  
> Laoye 老爷 = no exact translation, literally essentially means "old man," but really means more like "lord/master." Jiang Xin's nickname since 2004, coming from how it's the first line her character said in her drama. Liu Tao calling her 老爷 is [the cutest thing ever](https://youtu.be/oKx8Cqk_EDg?t=41s).
> 
> [Jiang Xin's dimple.](http://p1.pstatp.com/large/7230004aff95117e8cc?123.jpg) I love how soft it is - totally invites a poke. Liu Tao has a dimple at the corner of her mouth - 梨涡 instead of 酒涡 - and it's really cute too but I can't really find a picture of it. [Here it is in action](https://youtu.be/S8NCXcHX6Gk?t=10m55s) (warning for slayage).
> 
> [Yang Shuo's dimple](http://imgs.liuxd.com/2016/0421/20160421040025235.jpg). I gotta say, [it's a very deep dimple](http://p3.pstatp.com/large/6cd000724de39ab6e84).
> 
> Finishing off with this:
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> LT: She says she's my boyfriend, actually...  
> JX: Actually, you're my girlfriend!  
> LT: Actually: I'd give you anything you wanted, as long as you're happy.
> 
> AND I CRIED 5EVER. COME CRY WITH ME.
> 
> (Also, 事实是 - shì shí shì - sounds like a tongue twister hahahhaa.)


End file.
